Global positioning devices allow you to determine your position on Earth within several meters or less. You can connect a global navigation device with NMEA messaging protocol, for example, GNSS receivers, to ArcGIS Earth to view your current location in the scene.
After connecting the device to the application, you can configure the device for high-accuracy data collection, add point observations based on its location, and record tracks. Once the GNSS device is connected, the Realtime GNSS option is activated, and the location tools become available for use.
You can also import the historical NMEA files to ArcGIS Earth to review and analyze the past movements.
Connect to a GNSS device
To use a GNSS receiver with ArcGIS Earth, you must connect the device to the application and configure it for use.
The device must have an input/output (I/O) interface and support the output of National Marine Electronics Association (NMEA) sentences. You may need a Bluetooth connection or GNSS-compatible cable to connect the device to a computer. Refer to the device's documentation or contact the manufacturer if uncertain whether the device meets these requirements.
Once the GNSS device is connected, the Realtime GNSS option is activated, and the location tools become available for use.
Select the active GNSS connection
Multiple GNSS devices can be connected to a machine. However, only one device can be set as the active connection. To define which device is active, complete the following steps:
- Turn on your device and set it nearby.
- Click Realtime GNSS
on the toolbar.
- Click Connect Device.
- On the Choose the active GNSS device drop-down menu, view a list of valid devices, or choose Add a GNSS device to add a device manually if the device does not automatically connect.
- A blue check
mark
over the device icon—whether by Bluetooth, cable, or other means of connection—indicates the device is successfully connected to the application and ready for use.
A disabled mark
indicates there is no device selected or the connection is lost.
- A blue check
mark
- After a GNSS device is selected from the list of valid devices, click the connection's Properties button to set the Baud Rate value to further configure the device. Refer to your GNSS device's documentation for the correct settings.
USB and Bluetooth devices
ArcGIS Earth requires a communications (COM) port connection. Bluetooth devices can also be configured to use a virtual COM port. You can click the active GNSS device drop-down menu and choose Windows devices settings. This opens your operating system's device connection settings window. Here, you may review your system's Bluetooth settings and make any necessary adjustments to the Windows devices settings.
Note:
A COM port can only be listened to by a single application. ArcGIS Earth cannot establish a connection with the device if it is currently connected with another application. If the device is not listed, make sure the GNSS receiver is not connected to another application or machine.Use a real-time GNSS feed
After connecting a GNSS device to your machine, you can view and track the current location of the device in the scene of ArcGIS Earth.
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You can save the current device location to the Observations point and record the movement of your device to Tracks, which are organized in the My Device Locations node in the table of contents.
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View your location
Once the device is connected and the GNSS signal is ready, ArcGIS Earth will automatically zoom to the current location of your device.
You can also click
Zoom
to Device Location to navigate the map to the area where the
device is located.
Automatic panning mode
Optionally, you can turn on automatic panning modes. The modes change the view automatically every time your location changes. Click the button to turn on the setting and click again to turn it off.
- Track-up
—Adjust the scene's heading so that the top of the scene view is always facing the same direction as the device.
- Keep at Center
—Keep the device location always at the center of the screen. The map updates periodically as new location information is received.
- Keep within Window
—Pan the view automatically only when you move beyond the extent of the map.
View device location and satellite information
You can view detailed information about the device based on its current location, such as the level of accuracy or the signal of the satellites in view.
Click the Location Information button to access the Location Details and Satellite
Information tabs. All information displayed in the pane updates
periodically to reflect any changes from the device.
- Location Details—Show the device's current latitude, longitude, altitude, and the current measure of accuracy, fix detail, the horizontal dilution of precision (HDOP), the vertical dilution of precision (VDOP), the positional dilution of precision (PDOP).
- Satellite Information—Show the relative location of every satellite in view. The device's location is at the center of the map, and the compass map represents the entire earth. It also displays the strength of the signal of every satellite in view received by the device, in decibels (dB). The length of the bars and the opacity values both represent the strength of the signal.
Record device location data
You can record the current device location to a native geodatabase, named My Device Locations, provided by ArcGIS Earth in the workspace.
Visit Application settings to learn more about the ArcGIS Earthworkspace.
- Add observation points
- To save individual device locations, click the Add Observation Point button
and the location will be logged as a point in the Observation layer.
- To save individual device locations, click the Add Observation Point button
- Record location movements
- To record the movements of the device location, click Start Recording button
to begin logging data to the Track layer.
- During recording, click Pause
to temporarily stop recording data, and click
again to resume recording as needed. Click Stop Recording
to end writing a Track layer.
- Every time you start recording, a new Track layer will be created to log the movement.
- To record the movements of the device location, click Start Recording button
Note:
- When you click the Realtime GNSS Feed option under the Realtime GNSS button, the My Device Locations node will be added to the Table of Contents in ArcGIS Earth.
- The node is a mobile geodatabase in your current workspace, managed by ArcGIS Earth to log device location.
Review and play back historical data
Once the track is recorded, it is ready to play back for reviewing.
- Right-click the Track layer, and click Play on the context menu.
The GNSS toolbar and dashboard appear.
- Click Play to see the animation of the movement.
- Optionally, select track points or polylines or both to show in the scene.
Import .nmea files
In addition to connecting device for real-time GNSS feed, you can also import historical .nmea files to ArcGIS Earth.
- Click Realtime GNSS on the toolbar and click the Import NMEA data option.
- Browse and select an .nmea file and click OK.
An NMEA layer is added to the Table of Contents.
- Click Play to see the past movement and control the automatic panning mode as needed.
You can also view Location Details and Satellite Information by clicking the Location Information button. The information is logged into NMEA data.
- Click the points in the scene, and view the individual location information in a pop-up.
- Optionally, select track points or polylines or both to show in the scene.
Export and share
Right-click the Observations or Tracks layer to export it as a .kml file or share it to the organization, after your GNSS recording task is done.
You can also export the KML file and share it from the NMEA layer.
For more details, visit Share your work.